Ni-Ju-Shi, the Twenty-Four
by Event0Horizon
Summary: The turtles' plan was a success, and Karai is finally home. But what if she'd stayed one night before trying to take her revenge on the Shredder? This is the story of those 24 hours as a family.
1. Ichi Jikan

**A/N:** I don't own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, obviously, because if I did there would be more Karai. As it is, read below for more Karai! I'll be updating daily (or as close to as possible) until there are 24 chapters ("hours"), leading up to the finale of "Vengeance is Mine". Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Hour One - Ichi Jikan<strong>

* * *

><p><em>They break her out of Shredder's prison, but the words are too thick, too wrapped up in the bloody bandages of their combative history, for her to tear them free from her throat.<em>

_Karai still isn't good at saying thank-you._

* * *

><p>Leonardo fidgets outside of April's apartment window. His brothers stand there with him, watching her and the dark streets in turn. "We really appreciate this, April," he says. "I know it's kind of last minute."<p>

"It's okay. Not every day you pull off a prison break." She smiles despite her obvious discomfort, and places her care package in Donatello's outstretched arms. His tall brother worries his tooth gap with his tongue as he thanks her, and Leo watches her expression falter with concern.

As much as he hates to admit it, they all must have some lingering doubts about Karai after the last time they'd brought her into their home. When she'd used his trust, his hope, to trap them—again.

He shakes his head, deciding that she'd more than made up for it by standing against Tigerclaw. She'd also had the chance to tell Shredder where they lived, but even after he'd thrown her into that cell, she hadn't given them up.

Leonardo was sure they'd made the right decision, no matter what happened from here.

April reaches out to pat Donnie's knuckles, and they exchange reassuring smiles. Then she gestures to the collection of items in his brother's grip. "I got Karai a toothbrush, and extra clothes. Shampoo and a hairbrush, too, since... well, you guys wouldn't have either of those at the Lair."

"That's where you're wrong, April," Mikey says, with his usual cheek. "I brush my hair every day! That's how I get this boy band shine." He grins, slicks his hand back across his scalp, and April bites her lip to keep from laughing at the sudden startled horror on his face. "Holy chalupa, I've gone bald!"

Raphael elbows him. "We've always been bald, dingus."

Don starts to speak—probably to explain why it would be impossible for any of them to grow full and flowing locks—when suddenly Karai drops down onto the railing behind them, and they all jump like popping corn.

She's already made herself comfortable when Leo turns towards her. She leans back against the bars with ease, owning every space she occupies, and he's silenced by one confident smile. "I know, right?" she teases. "It's so easy to find you guys when the moonlight makes your heads glow like _hato-no-hi_ mushroom caps."

"And to _think_ we get to take her home with us." Donnie's tone is dry as sandpaper.

Leo laughs, sheepish and floundering in front of the others. It was so much easier to talk when he couldn't feel his brothers' eyes on him, analyzing his interaction with her. "Hey, Karai," he says, rubbing his neck and trying to block the moon with his elbow so it didn't reflect off of his smooth head. "I thought you were going to wait in the Shellraiser? Footbots could still be out looking for you. It's not safe."

As soon as he says it, he knows it had been the wrong point to make. Her eyes darken, and he braces himself for her rebuttal.

"Leo, I've been locked up in a cage for weeks," she snaps. He concedes to her point, his face twisting in reluctant understanding. "Safe or not, I'm getting some air. Deal with it."

"We'll _all_ be dealing with it if you're not careful," Raphael interjects, his shoulders stiff with tension.

Leonardo didn't have to have April's sixth sense to see that his brother was two strikes away from binding and gagging their Sensei's daughter. He puts a hand on his younger brother's shoulder, presses down, to remind him to keep his cool. Or at least preparing to hold him back.

Karai ignores Raph's rumbling, and lifts the toothbrush from Donnie's bundle, undeterred. "So, these are for me?" she asks. "Aww, you shouldn't have. Especially when Raphael's oral hygiene needs are so much greater."

Leo feels the control snap, a shift in the air, as his brother's muscles jump beneath his hand like a bow releasing a fisted arrow, and Raphael shouts, "What I need is for you to eat my-!"

"Raph!" he interrupts, quieting him as their voices echo down the alleyways. At least he had Mikey's help in trying to stop their brother from cold-blooded murder, the two of them barring him from Karai who only looks more amused, if anything.

She slips around them and approaches April's window, the redhead stiffening in response. Leonardo wonders if April senses hostility, or whether it's just the history between them—either way, he hopes it doesn't get any worse from here. From the corner of his eye he sees Donatello move closer to the two, cautious, his hand hovering over his bo.

"Hey, O'Neil," Karai greets her. So far so good. "Guess I'll be beating you up in the dojo from now on instead of just on the street."

Okay, Leo had to admit that binding and gagging her was looking better and better.

"Bring it, Karai," April says, before anyone else can come to her defence. Her confidence speaks volumes—she can handle this. He would have been proud if he wasn't so worried about this escalating. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I got a couple good hits in. Or didn't you end up at the bottom of a flight of stairs once?"

She actually manages to shock Karai into silence for all of two seconds before she laughs, sharp at the edges in a way that suits her, before she sticks her gloved hand into the window. Unfortunately April's auto-response is to block what turns out to be just a handshake, and her proud glow turns into a full burn of embarrassment as she course-corrects and takes the offered hand.

Karai's smirk is in her voice as she says, "See you at the rematch, princess."

April is equally smug, rising to the challenge. "Can't wait."

They shake on it, and Leonardo makes a mental note to pick up extra medical supplies.


	2. Ni Jikan

**Hour Two – Ni Jikan**

* * *

><p><em>When Karai embraces her real father for the first time, it's the best and worst moment all at once. It's a greeting, and a goodbye.<em>

_His arms are so different from the ones she's known all her life—the ones she'll never feel again._

* * *

><p>Raphael doesn't let his guard down, even once they're back in the sewers. Karai had screwed them before—more than once—and it seemed like he was the only guy who ever saw it coming. Figured.<p>

So he sits in the common room pit, arms on his knees, and watches her hug the man who'd raised him. He can't see any weapons on her, but that doesn't mean she's not concealing something. Sensei wouldn't be expecting it, but Raph always does, and he keeps his muscles bunched, ready to leap between them at any sign of trouble.

Still... Master Splinter hasn't looked this happy in a long time, and he finds himself watching his father more and more, and Karai less and less. If this went south, Splinter was going to take it hard. Too hard.

"Awww, don't cry, Raph!" Mikey's voice interrupts his thoughts just before his little brother's uninjured arm engulfs his head. "You're gunna make me cry, too!"

Flailing, he grunts, "I'm not crying!" but with his brother's arm across his face it's too muffled to tell. Raphael tries to wrestle him off, but he doesn't want to grab the scratched arm, and ends up just wriggling like an idiot until he slips out from under the loop of his grasp.

Gasping for air that didn't smell like his little brother's armpit, he wonders whether Mikey's head could twist far enough around to lick up his own stench. Might teach him a lesson about body odor.

Never know until you try.

He reaches out to grab his giggling brother's head and do just that, when he notices Donatello leading Karai off towards the bathroom. _Unarmed_.

"Thought he was the smart one," Raph mutters, and leaves his seat to trail them.

* * *

><p>He finds Donnie crouched by the tub, twisting the knob and frowning his nerd-frown when the water comes out brown at first.<p>

"Huh. I'll have to check the filter," Don says. "Anyway, this controls the temperature. You can have your ice baths, your hellfire, or whatever you need to feel at home."

Karai hums, putting her hands on her hips. "What about the blood of innocents?" she asks.

His brother gives her a deadpan look over his shoulder. "Riiiiight. I'll look into it, but I'm pretty sure that's a building code violation." He straightens up to grab her a towel. "Soap's in the dispenser there," he adds.

"It'll take more than that to wash off the smell of a _dirty Foot_," Raphael interjects, shouldering his way into the small bathroom like a club bouncer, and glowering at the girl when she smirked. He can see Donnie glancing around, counting how many potential weapons there were among the toiletries in case a fight broke out.

Raph had a couple of items in mind already.

"Aww, you guys use the buddy system," Karai cooes, and he grinds his teeth at the sound. "Do you hold hands when you cross the street, too?"

"_No_," Donnie says, before Raph can try to drown her in the bath. "... Not since we were six."

"I bet Raphael had sweaty palms," she says, and tugs open the mirror cabinet door.

"I did _not_!"

"We're mostly turtle—we don't really have sweat glands," Donatello says. When they look at him, he shrugs. "It's important to be accurate."

Karai pulls a can of shaving cream off the shelf with a raised brow. "'_Accurate_', huh?"

"That's probably Raph's."

"Explains that manly five o' clock shadow."

"Shut up!" he says, but it isn't until a minute later, after she kicks them out so she can bathe, that he thinks of a better retort to shout through the closed door: "That's funny, coming from the bearded lady!"

He hears her snickering, and isn't sure whether that means she still gets the last laugh.


	3. San Jikan

**Hour Three - San Jikan**

* * *

><p><em>Karai can hear the freckled one humming on the other side of the bathroom door, waiting as she scrubs off a couple weeks' worth of grime.<em>

_His voice drowns out the sound of her own shallow breaths in her ears, the hitches and catches that shame her._

* * *

><p>Michelangelo paces outside the bathroom door, rocking on his heels and trying not to pick at his bandage. Karai is taking awhile, but Raph had always said ladies spent a long time in the bathroom. Something about "girly stuff", which Mikey assumes was another way of saying they take longer poops.<p>

When Karai finally opens the door, he puffs his freckled cheeks and takes a tentative whiff of the air. Then he exhales in a rush, in amazement. "Wow! It doesn't stink at all!"

His sister-raised-by-another-mister raises a brow, and that's when he notices how different she looks without her wicked face paint on. Bare-faced she seems younger, for sure, soft pastels instead of bold reds and blacks. She didn't look as scary—or as cool, to be honest—but Mikey knew that looks could be deceiving.

In reality, Karai's vulnerable face was hiding a sharp, fierce interior, which was totally masking an even _more_ vulnerable, squishy, loveable inside.

Deep, _deep_ down inside.

Though, that loveable inside could be hiding an even _angrier inside_-inside...

... How many layers was that again?

Karai is scrubbing her hair with the towel draped over her shoulders, looking bored but amused. "Did you want something, or is this some kind of initiation?" she asks.

Mikey cocks his finger guns at her, proving that he was also 'the cool brother', and says, "You could call it that, but I'd call it..." He clears his throat, then waves his arms towards the large common area. "The Awesome Epic Grand Tour of Epic Awesomeness!"

He pumps his fists, and turns back towards her, bouncing on his toes—still not even close to her height. She gots them tall jeans, like Donnie says, except Donnie didn't wear them. "You excited?"

Karai drapes the wet towel over his head, damp on his skin, and he shivers. "Oh yeah," she says, breezing by as he balls up the towel and tries to shoot it into the laundry basket. "'Bootyakasha', and all that."

He laughs, jumps ahead of her to lead the way, walking backwards as he corrects her. "Close, but with less booty and more 'ooyah'!"

"¿Por qué no los dos?"

"You are a wise, wise woman."

* * *

><p>"Aaaand this is the kitchen!" Michelangelo gestures left and right and overhead as they enter. "It's where I make the magic happen. Wait till you try my patented Pickle Pop-Rock Peanut Butter Pizza! Mwah!" He brings his fingers to his mouth and kisses them away, just like the cooks on television. Then he adds a wink for seasoning. "You'll wish every hole in your body was a mouth."<p>

Karai scoffs. "That's some nightmare fuel right there."

He waggles his brow, then stops by the fridge and pats the freezer door. "Here's my tastiest buddy." He draws out the pause as he sticks both his head and arms into the freezer, wiggling around on his tiptoes. When he pulls out and spins around, he holds his frosty friend in his hands. "Ice Cream Kitty!"

Time for the ultimate test. Everyone knows that if your pet doesn't like somebody, they were probably bad news. Pets know stuff—especially ice cream kitty. She could smell a bad egg from a mile away. Probably because they feed her bad eggs from the fridge.

But she could smell rotten people eggs, too!

Karai looks at ice cream kitty, and ice cream kitty looks back at Karai. The tension was thick as... cheese. Mozzarella, maybe.

Mmmm. Mozzarella.

"Come on, kitty-kitty," Mikey urges his curious friend, who tilts her head and meows. "We _like_ Karai. She's part of the family now."

"I'm more of a sorbet kinda girl anyway," their guest says. She was obviously trying to look like she wasn't heartbroken about not being smothered in ice cream already.

Raph butts in again, still trailing behind Karai like a grumpy, moment-ruining shadow. "Maybe the cat's got better taste than I thought."

Mikey pouts at him. "Ice cream kitty _always_ tastes delicious."

"Not the kind of taste I meant."


	4. Yo Jikan

**Hour Four - Yo Jikan**

* * *

><p><em>The sewers don't feel like home yet. Karai wonders if they ever will.<em>

_She wonders if she even knows what a real home should feel like. _

* * *

><p>"What a mess," Raphael says, shuffling around a pile of pizza boxes on Mikey's bedroom floor.<p>

He's been following Karai along the tour, making sure she didn't try to pull another one of her oh-so-charming bait and switches. Now they were making a pitstop at his little brother's room, which was even more of a pigsty than the last time he'd seen it.

"Hey, your room's not Mister Clean, either, bro." Mikey hops onto his bed, bouncing up and down with a look of pride on his rounded face. "Welcome to the Casa in mi Casa!" he cheers, and waves his hands like he's performing in a magic show or jazz choir. "Casa_ception_! So... whaddaya think?"

Karai hooks her foot under a pizza box and kicks up the lid, peering inside. "... Was it that color when you ordered it?"

Raphael takes a peek over her shoulder, then says, "I'm not even sure that's a pizza."

She glances around the room then, surveying all the clutter, and stops with her fingers on the helm of the ship-style headboard. She looks at Mikey, who has his hands clasped and his hopeful puppy face on, all big watery eyes.

"I like it," she says. "It's got character."

"That's one way to put it," Raph mumbles.

His little brother squeaks, beaming, and bounces anew, then proceeds to show off all the toys he's collected from the trash over the years. Karai, to her credit, actually looks interested. Raphael figures she must have been incredibly bored at Foot HQ with no other kids her age around.

Sighing, he leans against the door frame, keeping guard. He still doesn't trust her, but it was starting to look like Raphael's only remaining ally on Team Don't-Let-Your-Guard-Down was going to be Donnie.

Maybe the genius could build a Stink-Eye machine to follow Karai around so he wouldn't have to do it himself.

Mikey cracks open his cache of make-up—for his "costumes", or sometimes just for "feeling pretty", or whatever his reasons were—and watches intently as Karai re-applies the eyeliner she'd washed off in the shower.

There's something strangely mesmerizing about it, the steady glide, the focus, the transformation, and Raphael forces his gaze onto the ceiling stains instead of her face.

At least until he hears his little brother say, "Ooh, do me next!"

"What? You gotta be kidding me," he says, moving away from the door and closer to the pair as Karai twirls the eyeliner between her fingers like a dagger.

His little brother gives him a disparaging look. "I want _wings_, dude. Don't clip my wings. I gotta fly like a turtle do."

"A turtle don't do that!"

"They do in Mario."

Karai grasps Mikey's chin with her hand, holding him still—Raph reaches for his sai, tense, and when she notices and frowns, he stares right back at her in a warning. "Look," he says, "I just wouldn't trust her with a sharp object anywhere near my eyeballs, and you shouldn't either." He keeps his gaze fixed on the girl holding the penbrush, on high alert. For a kunoichi like her, anything is a weapon.

"Chill out, dude," his brother answers, looking _way_ too comfortable sitting so close to her. "Like Master Splinter said," he pauses, then imitates their Sensei's accent while miming the stroking of his beard, "'Some things _are_ worth the risk'."

"I don't think he meant _eyeliner_."

"Says you."

Karai gives him a smug look. "If you're _scared_, Raphael, you can leave. I know how sensitive you boys can get about your man-pride."

He bristles, scowling, and settles against the wall again. Like he was going to leave her alone with him. She's rolling her eyes as she leans in towards Mikey, pushing up his orange mask with her painted fingernails, and his little brother quivers a bit under the touch, ticklish, but smiles when she squishes his cheeks like a child.

"Be careful," he warns with his pursed mouth, squeezed between her fingers. "Wifout the mask, I can't contain my cute. It's _deadly_."

Karai laughs, which is happening way too often. It's weird. "But what a way to go, right?"

"Awwyeah." Mikey is grinning as much as he can with his cheeks in her ladyclaws. "You get me."

"Oh _brother_," Raph mutters from the doorway. And here he'd thought _Leo_ would be the fan club president.


	5. Go Jikan

**Hour Five - Go Jikan**

* * *

><p><em>He watches her as she lines his big baby blue eyes, so close that a misplaced stroke could blind him. He only smiles, his freckles bunching where her fingers hold his cheeks, and there's complete trust in the way his hands lay relaxed in his lap.<em>

_Karai thinks, maybe, home could feel this way._

* * *

><p>Leonardo says goodnight to Splinter, and leaves with the spare bedroll. He has no doubt that they'll be discussing the fact that he'd gone ahead with his plan in spite of his teacher's warnings in future... but for now, he'd never seen Sensei more at peace.<p>

It had all been worth it, as far as Leonardo was concerned.

He passes by the workshop, peering through the open door to see Donatello still awake and bent over one of his projects. "Hey, Donnie. You're still up?"

"Hnnyeah," his brother responds, distracted by whatever's on his desk. He doesn't turn around, but says, "Just trying to work out some load-bearing issues in my Turtle-Mech calculations. It'd keep me awake thinking about it if I went to bed, so why bother?"

Leo changes the rolled mat to his other arm, then says, "Well... make sure you get some sleep eventually—it's been a long day for all of us."

This has Donnie twisting around, and casting a smile from his seat. "Not _quite_ as long for the get-away driver. I was just pressing buttons—no more exhausting than, say, a game of Starcraft." He flexes his fingers. "Not to worry, I've still got some gas in my tank."

Despite his concern, Leo nods. "Alright, but don't overdo it." Then he looks back out towards the rest of the Lair. "Have you seen the others?"

His brother is back to his project already, offering a shrug and a "Nope," but not much else.

* * *

><p>Leonardo drops the bedroll off in the storage area he'd cleared for Karai, then continues to his little brother's room. When he peeks inside, the first thing he sees is not surprising, given their history—Mikey, jumping on the bed, looking like a glam rock raccoon-turtle.<p>

"Leo!" he shouts when he notices him there, bending his knees and bouncing higher. "You should let Karai do you, too! She's really good at it."

His eyes dart to the kunoichi, unbidden, who sits on the edge of the bed. "Do... _do_ me? Wait—_what_?!"

There's a disdainful snort over his shoulder, and he just now notices Raphael there, still lurking like a gargoyle. So much for making Karai feel welcome.

Mikey stops bouncing, and gestures to his own ink-lined eyes with both thumbs. "_Wings_, bro. They're _on point_."

"What does that even _mean_?" Raph mutters, as Leo imagines he's been muttering the whole time.

Karai is smiling in that way that meant he was going to end up giving in to trouble. It didn't help that now Mikey was on her side, and he shuffles in place when she crooks her finger, inviting him to join them. "I'm thinking basic," she says, amusement thick in her tone. "Or, if you're feeling adventurous, we could go full feline."

He shakes his head and retreats, hands up as if to ward her off. "I, uh..." A nervous laugh bubbles up, stuttering his words. "Aha—I—heh—I d-don't think that's a good idea. I mean—it wouldn't... go... with... my outfit?" he attempts.

"He has a point," Mikey says, tapping his chin, thoughtful.

Karai raises a brow, clearly not buying it. "You're all _naked_," she says, and her bluntness makes him blush.

"No, we're not!" he retorts, his voice cracking in embarrassment as he offers, "We have belts."

"And masks," Raph adds, crossing his arms in a stiff, defensive way.

"They're the belts of faces," Mikey says with a nod.

The kunoichi rolls her eyes. "Come on, Leo, let loose! Have a little fun. You'll look great, trust me."

Leo is about to tell her why this has nothing to do with trust and everything to do with dignity, when she reaches out to touch-up Mikey's look, rubbing her thumb over a smudge on his freckled cheek. His little brother smiles at her, and then at him, impish, and daring him to turtle up.

"Fine," he says, removing his mask with a single swipe of his hand, trying to look as cool as possible considering he was about to let a girl do his make-up just to be touched. "Let's do this."

"What the heck is _wrong_ with you guys?" Raph demands, but he shoots him a quelling look as he walks past him and sits upon the bed.

"Oh, lighten up, Raph."

"That's rich, coming from you!"

Leonardo fumbles for a lifeline, grasping at ninja straws. "Look—this is _sort of_ like training. Think of it as..._ hensojutsu_," he says, suddenly inspired and proud of himself, and then Karai's hand is on his cheek. When she considers the shape of his eyes, he feels his face light up again, even as he averts his gaze from her closeness.

The liner is smooth and steady in her grip when she traces his strange features, almost as if she knows them better than he does. Almost as if they're normal.

He forgets to be embarrassed until Raph huffs from his corner. "More like henso-_just-no_."

Leo frowns, but then grins, catching Karai's hand to still her as he looks to the youngest sibling, and gestures with his eyes. Mikey understands immediately—he must have been thinking the same thing—and with stifled giggles he hop-skips his way over to the door and shuts it.

"What are you-" Raphael starts, then stops at their combined, scheming expressions. "No. No way."

"Oh, _yes_ way," Leo says, tired of his brother's commentary, and the way he just stood sentinel. "It's your turn, Raph. Put up or shut up."

"Don't even think about-"

"Join ussss!" Michelangelo interrupts him in his best spooky voice, and jumps onto their brother's shell. Leo rushes over to help him with the take-down as Raphael bucks and thrashes. "Get him, Karai!" Mikey calls, "Make him the beauty queen he was always meant to be!"

"Touch me and I'll make you the _coma patient_ you were always meant to be!" Raph snaps at her as she crouches next to his head and reaches out to pull off his mask. He takes a bite at her fingers and narrowly misses—Leonardo slaps one of his large hands over his brother's snout, holding it shut.

"Don't make me muzzle you," he warns through a grin, and Raph's eyes narrow at him. They stay that way as Karai starts to draw, defining the edges of them.

"I've never done this upside-down before," she says, and Raphael groans with dread, muted beneath his hand.

Michelangelo leans over to watch from his seat on Raph's plastron. "Don't worry, you got this. He looks at least ten times better already! He might even win the pageant show."

"What would his talent be?" Leo asks, choking on his laughter.

"Oh! _Oh_! Remember that time he belched every Japanese _hiragana_ after eating three whole pizzas himself?"

Raphael gives a muffled shout, and Mikey frowns in response. "Oh yeahhh, that _was_ me." Then he smiles. "I'm so awesome sometimes."

There's another irritated grunt from the bottom of the turtle pile.

"Quit rolling your eyes, Raphael, I'm working here," says Karai, transforming their brother into his inner diva.

Leonardo has never been so content to watch her work.


	6. Roku Jikan

**Hour Six - Roku Jikan**

* * *

><p>Donatello doesn't know what he was expecting when he followed Raphael's sudden shouts, but it certainly wasn't his toughest brother being pinned to the floor by the others, dramatic black strokes framing his eyes.<p>

"What in Merlin's beard...?" he starts, but the bedroom door slams shut behind him. He spins on his heels to see Karai blocking his exit.

She's holding something. A weapon?

He takes up a defensive stance even as he glances down at his brothers to assess the damage. All three of them stare back at him with conspiring smiles, almond-shaped eyes bolded by-

"Is... is that mascara?"

"Liquid liner," says Karai, as she closes the distance between them. "It's important to be _accurate_, right, Donatello?"

His brothers surround him suddenly, prepared to hold him down as they'd done to Raphael mere moments before. Donnie reaches in vain for his bo, which he'd forgotten in his haste. He squirms as Raph grabs him, and fights back with his elbows as the others join in.

Wrestling him to the ground, he hears Leonardo quote the tech-aliens from Space Heroes. "Resistance-is-futile! You-will-be-assimilated!" he says, putting on a terrible robot voice.

"What-he-said!" Mikey adds, in a slightly-less-terrible robot voice.

Donatello's shell hits the floor, and he gasps. "It was a trap! _J'accuse_!" He glares at the brother whose cries had brought him running. "_Et tu, Brute_?"

Raphael shrugs, his grin smug. "Hey, I know how much you love looking like a clown. Might as well take you down with me, right?"

"Alright, boys," Karai interrupts, brandishing the eyeliner like a blade. "Time to shut up and look pretty."

* * *

><p><em>Karai's new family looks like the gross garbage punk rock band of her dreams.<em>

_She almost feels like crying, but it would ruin her make-up._

* * *

><p>Almost half an hour later, they're lying on Mikey's bedroom floor as their youngest brother flips through all of the "duck face" group selfies he'd insisted on taking with the T-phone. The fact that they'd all gone along with it could be attributed to the fact that they were all exhausted, Donnie figures.<p>

"It's been scientifically proven that the effects of sleep deprivation closely resemble drunkenness," he explains.

Raphael yawns. "_Fascinating_, Donnie. But mostly disappointing."

"What, you want to wake up covered in vomit?" Karai asks, twisting onto her side.

"Not sure being covered in make-up is that much better," he retorts, and scrubs once more at his eyes, smearing the black around it so it looks more like he's been in a fight as opposed to a cosmetology class. "Isn't there a law against testing this stuff on animals?"

"Mikey, your floor has a wet spot," Leonardo says, uneasy.

"Must be Raphael's man-tears."

"Or maybe it's all your Foot-sweat, Karai," Raphael snaps back. "You smell like Mikey's_ toes_."

Donatello shakes his head, trying to figure out what kind of spider was nesting in the corner. "That's probably just Mikey's toes you're smelling, Raph."

"Hey!" their little brother protests, pushing himself up to sitting. "My toes smell great! Like week-old pizza."

Leonardo had twisted around to inspect the damp patch with a critical eye. "No, really-is there a leak?"

"Maybe someone_ took_ a leak," Raphael says with a snort, and pokes Donnie with a thick finger. "Huh, Don? You looked pretty spooked there when we jumped you."

"I'm not even going to dignify your insinuation with a response."

They're all startled by the sudden stream of colorful Japanese curse words from Karai, and she's reaching frantically under their brother's bed, yanking, pulling out-

"Is this a Chris Bradford standee?!" she cries in disbelief as the life-size image emerges. Donatello turns over to see it, and the sheepish smile on his little brother's face.

"Uh, yeah," he admits, and Raphael pushes his cheek into the rug.

"I thought you got rid of that stupid thing!"

"Let up, Raph!" Leonardo crawls over to get between them. His eyeliner was still perfect, of course, and he keeps his face turned in such a way that neither of his brothers' waving hands would smear Karai's careful work.

Donatello watches as she drags the standee into an upright position, looking like she was trying very hard not to break down in fits of giggling.

"Where did you_ find_ this?" she asks, breathless with contained laughter. She's looking the cardboard over, up and down—Chris Bradford in his prime, buff and beardy and human—probably the main difference. Even Donnie finds it a little jarring, the reminder that the feral collection of bones and fur that they now called Rahzarr had once been this man, wearing a vest and an arrogant grin.

Michelangelo shimmies out from under the turtle pile, grinning. "Can you believe somebody threw it out?"

"Yes," Raph mutters in a flat tone.

"I'd almost forgotten what he looked like before." Karai prods the standee with her fingertips. "He babysat me once, you know?"

Mikey had moved closer, sitting at her feet, legs crossed and face rapt as he stares up at her. "_Really_?"

"Somehow I don't see that going very well," Donatello says. "For Bradford, anyway."

Karai's grin is just as proud as the picture next to her. "I know, right? When he was in Los Angeles, my fa-" she stops so fast it seems she'd bitten her own tongue, but then she says, "-the Shredder took us to visit the dojo Bradford set up there."

"Wait." Leo frowns, his leader-look firmly in place. "The Foot Clan has a base in California, too?"

"Yeah, but it won't be a problem. Shredder's neglected it ever since he found out Hamato Yoshi was 'building a ninja army' here in New York," she says, with handy air quotes to emphasize. "Apparently that's what they're calling four mutant turtles in a sewer now."

"Hey!" Raphael objects. Predictable. "We're all the army Splinter needs to take care of the _Foot_."

"Not that we'd turn down extra manpower," Leonardo says, diplomatically.

She shrugs. "California is on the other side of the country, anyway. What are the chances they'd make trouble here?"

Donatello raises a hand. "Did you want an exact calculation, or a quick estimate?"

"Anyway, they were trained by _Bradford_." Karai's tone suggest she's not impressed. Her expression suggests she's outright disgusted. "Shredder always called him his greatest student, but... wouldn't be the first time he's lied about something."

There's an awkward pause, which Leo attempts to break. "So..." he begins, his voice cracking, and Donatello can see the line writing itself from a mile away. "You think he was just..._ throwing Bradford a bone?_"

Raphael groans. "Oh, for the love of-"

"That was _bad_, bro."

Donatello shakes his head, drawn into one of those rare moments where he had to agree with Mikey.


	7. Nana Jikan

**A/N:** _Short one this time! Sorry for the delay, I've been caught up with Leorai week (my not-so-secret otp), and I'm using that as an excuse to post this chapter as my "Day 5: Family" entry. So heads up, there are Leorai undertones again! Back to shenanigans next chapter, plus some tone-shifting nightmares very soon. Thank-you all so much for your favorites and reviews, they keep me coming back to finish this! 17 hours/chapters to go~_

* * *

><p><strong>Hour Seven - Nana Jikan<strong>

* * *

><p>Leonardo carefully lays out the bedroll, frowning at the stains. The whole storage space, actually, had never seemed so underwhelming—dark and damp in places, with something growing in the corner.<p>

This old room behind the dojo was hardly appropriate for the prodigal daughter.

He considers, for a moment, offering her his own room—as much as it would embarrass him when she saw all his collector's items—but before he can say anything, she's laid herself out on the floor. Sprawling onto her side, she props herself up with her elbow and waves a foot at him.

"Quit pouting," she says, breezy. "I'm _fine_. It's not like I thought I was going to be staying at _the Ritz_."

"Aheh." He chuckles, sheepish, and kicks at the edge of the mat. "Yeah... but it's not much better than that cell."

"Leo," she starts, and her voice is sobering. He lifts his chin just enough to meet Karai's eyes, and when he does she says, "It's different here—and right now, that's what I need."

She sits up and crosses her legs, lotus style, looking like any other teenage girl in those borrowed pajamas ("This Is How I Roll," says the cartoon sushi on the front, pink and green and adorable). Her lips pull into a small frown, before she adds, "Don't try to spoil me. It's weird."

"_Spoil_ you?" Leo laughs, gesturing around the space. "Okay, then I guess we can leave whatever's growing on the walls up there."

"Hey, full sewer experience, right?" She grins and leans back on her hands. "Just warn me if someone's about to drain their bathwater through here."

Leonardo spreads his arms wide. "But I thought you wanted all the amenities!" he says with exaggerated disbelief, and counts it as a personal victory when she chuckles. When she stops, he speaks again, "Sorry we don't have extra sheets… we don't get many guests staying the night down here."

"No, _really?_" Karai asks, with sarcasm in her smile. "I said it's fine, Leo. Didn't the princess spend a couple nights here anyway?"

"Yeah, back when you—ah, Shredder, and the Kraang… were hunting her." He rubs his arm, and quickly moves on. "We picked up her sheets from her apartment. ... Not like we could go to a store."

The girl nods, then lays back on the mat again and stares up at their damp ceiling.

It's quiet until he adds, "I'll ask April to get some."

"You _don't_ have to do that." She sounds exasperated. "Stop trying to save me all the time!"

"Are sheets that big a deal?"

"It's not the sheets, it's… all of it." Karai is laying on her side now, watching him. "I'm _not_ a damsel in distress," she says. "I'm not _damaged_."

"I don't think you're either of those things," he says urgently. He takes a deep breath, measuring how much of his heart he can give away in words. "I know you're strong, and I know you can take care of yourself. Those are part of what I admire about you…" he trails off, unable to look at her as he clears his throat, and fights his focus away from all the _other_ things he admires about her. "-but that's not the point."

Leo hesitates, then gestures past the screen, out towards the rest of the Lair. "The point is that you don't _have_ to watch your own back anymore, Karai. It's not about _saving_ you. It's about making sure you have people you can count on, no matter what. A whole _family,_ a real one, that cares about you. I just want you to know what that's like."

Karai's gaze is steady, and though he can't read what's in her eyes he meets them regardless. He can feel himself holding his breath until she finally smiles, just a bit, and says, "Do they teach you how to give those speeches in _hero_ school?"

He gasps out a laugh, part relief and part humor. "Maybe. Do I pass?"

"Sure," she says, and turns over to sleep, casting one last teasing glance over her shoulder. "You get an A for _Adorable_."

* * *

><p><em>For the first time in a long time, Karai falls asleep without staring at her mother's photograph and wishing things had been different.<em>

_This isn't the family she wanted-but maybe it's the one she needs._


End file.
